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In The Spotlight

Campaign Finance Bibliography

The Democracy to Which We are Entitled: Human Rights and the Problem of Money in Politics

Type

Journal

Citation

Kuhner, T. K. (2013). The Democracy to Which We are Entitled: Human Rights and the Problem of Money in Politics. Harvard Human Rights Journal, 26(1).

Abstract

This Article is the first to argue that campaign finance, corporate political activity, lobbyists, and other ‘money in politics issues’ fall within the purview of human rights treaties. The universal assumption that domestic political finance is a purely domestic issue is mistaken. Domestic political finance is actually a matter of concern for international law. This is so because the provisions of the democratic entitlement under international law cannot be reconciled with the high levels of money in politics observed in many democracies. If this argument is sound, then human rights law requires States to enact political finance reforms.